About

Sara Pasti has served the residents of Ward 1 in the City of Kingston since August 2023. During her time on the Common Council, she has served on three Council Committees: Finance & Audit, Community Development & Housing, and Laws & Rules. She also serves as the Council liaison to the Kingston Local Development Corporation and Planning Board. She has also worked diligently to address the concerns of her constituents—from increasing public safety through supporting a lower city speed limit for Kingston and no parking signage that creates a safer walking route for students to the Edson and Bailey Schools to helping constituents with questions about trash and yard waste disposal and road repairs.

Sara has spent her life in community service, working to improve the communities in which she lived. She has lived in the Hudson Valley for over 20 years. When she moved to Beacon in 2002, she organized an informational community meeting and was ultimately named Co-Chair of a Comprehensive Plan Committee that oversaw four visioning workshops held at various locations around the city, and a series of City Council Public Hearings that resulted in a 10-year plan that was adopted in December 2007 and updated in 2017.

Past Presidents of the Beacon Arts Community Association (now BeaconArts), left to right: Ricardo Diaz, Kelly Ellenwood, Linda Hubbard, and Sara Pasti

Following the City’s adoption of the initial plan in 2007, Sara ran for public office to ensure that the plan’s recommendations were successfully incorporated into the City’s zoning and building codes. She enjoyed her six years of service on the Beacon City Council representing the residents of Ward 4. Her service ranged from working with the City and a local property owner to address water run-off issues that led to flooded basements in one neighborhood, to resolving neighbor disputes, to helping pass legislation that addressed the City’s affordable housing needs as well as the needs of a then-struggling Main Street.

As a professional working in the non-profit sector, Sara has helped to launch several non-profit organizations and major program initiatives and assisted organizations through challenging periods of transition, including a major capital campaign and facility renovation. From 2009-2019, she served as the Neil C. Trager Director of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz.

Sara is currently a project manager and community organization consultant who specializes in start-up projects, strategic planning, and institutional and capital project fundraising. From 2024 to the present, Sara has served as Project Manager for the Ulster County Arts and Culture Plan, now in development and scheduled for presentation to the Ulster County Legislature in April 2025.